Dear Editor: As one of about 10,000 Americans who did in fact go to Crawford, Texas to protest the Bush administration’s wars — and still have the ant bites to prove it — I am responding to Lisa Cohen’s March 30 letter that asked where we are. Well, I am in Mountain View and not protesting the actions of the Obama administration because it would not do any good, just as the protests didn’t (I also committed an act of civil disobedience to get arrested when Bush first attacked Iraq.)

If I thought a public display would save even one life in Libya I would do it, but the fog of war engulfs this administration as it did the previous one. So I am doing what I can — avoid paying taxes (legally) and getting ready to leave the United States for good. No decent person could do otherwise.

John Martin,

Mountain View

Problem solved

Dear Editor: Regarding your March 30 article, “Debate pits conservation against housing,” l thought we resolved this matter by approving a high-speed rail system. The California High-Speed Rail Authority intends to safely, reliably, cost-effectively and cleanly move people quickly to and from the Bay Area. Let’s at least hold off approving the Saltworks project until the authority has had a chance to fulfill its 2008 ballot representations.

Evan Snyder,

Menlo Park

Nuclear danger

Dear Editor: The unprecedented nuclear disaster in Japan is a dire warning about our increased vulnerability to suffer a similar fate. No longer can we accept the “feel good” comforting words of our own nuclear regulatory body. There should be public hearings on the status of our aging nuclear power stations housing highly combustible and lethal materials. The nuclear power industry has a powerful lobby and is adversely influencing political discourse.

James Rogers, the CEO of Duke Energy, a major supplier of nuclear energy, is co-chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention and an intimate insider to Obama’s re-election campaign. “It’s troubling,” said Dan Hirsch, a nuclear safety advocate in Southern California, “Obama is cozying up to large financial interests that might become donors and who wish our policy to be blind to the implications of this catastrophe.”

The nuclear industry is so capital intensive and risky that it cannot be privately financed but must survive on taxpayer guarantees to the tune of $37 billion.

There is no safe repository for hundreds of tons of radioactive waste that will undoubtedly be silent killers to future generations of Americans.

We cannot afford to play Russian roulette with current and future generations of Americans. I urge concerned readers to contact your lawmakers and the White House and demand action to reverse support for this dangerous and inherently unnecessary steam generation albatross.

Jagjit Singh,

Los Altos

Selective Obama

Dear Editor: In his speech this week President Obama told the American people: “Where people yearn to be free, they will find a friend in America.” If this is true, then why did Mr. Obama not utter a word in support of the brave Iranian students who last year protested a brutal theocratic tyranny? Why does he remain silent now as the Syrian people risk their lives protesting against their ruthless dictator?

Violent police encounters in California last year led to the deaths of 157 people and six officers, the state attorney general’s office said Thursday in a report that provides the first statewide tally on police use-of-force incidents.